The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty