The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators 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 deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
