The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that position in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
