The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that position in US history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion 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 attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
