The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
