The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level 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 reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined 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 announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
