The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
