The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions 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 dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 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 recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
