The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, 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 likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
