The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in US history. While numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend 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 Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
