The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that office in American history. While numerous VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve 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 concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
