The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence 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 shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
