The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. While numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks 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 traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
