The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that position in American history. Although countless VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist'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 malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
