The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture 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 credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
