The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty