The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned 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 little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily 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 armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, 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 background that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
