The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that position in US history. While countless VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling 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 over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
