The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
