The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
