The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of that position in American history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
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 shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty