The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet 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 Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author'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 nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
