The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [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 guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
