The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that position in US history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier 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 later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch 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 earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
