The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that position in US history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume 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 shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background 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 companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
