The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The 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 armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
