The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication 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 operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
