The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While many VPs were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
