The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked 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 intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, 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 operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
