The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of that position in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards 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."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
