The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
