The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked 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 stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, 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 portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
