The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential holders of that office in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
