The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, 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 remains unseen leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
