The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked 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 objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
