The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
