The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, 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 participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either weak or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
