The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. While numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion 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 attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
