The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After 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 declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
