The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While many VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted 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 participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be 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 top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
