The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
