The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
