The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
