The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
