The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured 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 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked 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 declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
