The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including 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, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
