The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that office in American history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, 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, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, 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 effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to 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 reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
