The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
