The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
