The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that office in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
