The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that position in US history. Although countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book 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 nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
