The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head 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 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
