The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
