The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level 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 post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, 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 image of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
