The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume 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 background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
