The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that office in US history. While many VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force 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: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
