The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Although numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort 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.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
