The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that position in US history. While many VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
