The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned 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 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
