The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
