The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that position in US history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, 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 invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
