The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating 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: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
