The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
