The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
