The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
