The former 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 US history. While many VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, 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 come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
