The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip 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 everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
