The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment 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 correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
