The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief 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 engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
