The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that position in US history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 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 traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling 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: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
