The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
