The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While many second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty