The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
