The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication 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 operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
