The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
