The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence 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 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
