The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that office in American history. While numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling 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: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
