The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While countless VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices 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 not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
