The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that position in US history. Although many VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated 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 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
