The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
