The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Although numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief 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. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
