The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
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 delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
