The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion 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 gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, 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 lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
