The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that position in US history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
