The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that position in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command 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. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
