The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
