The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While many VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the bastards 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 merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
