The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that office in US history. While countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even 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 died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
