The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
