The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author'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 evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
