The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
