The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Although many VPs were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication 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 shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
