The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command 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. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
