The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of that office in American history. Although many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
