The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication 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 operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
