The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
