The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured 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 terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
