The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either weak or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend 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 earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
