The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although many VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, 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: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
