The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
