The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of that position in US history. While numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
