The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
