The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, 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 leave his lair? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
