The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that position in American history. While many VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part 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 shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high 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 observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
