The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion 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 session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
