The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. While many VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 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. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, 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 chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
