The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames 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 directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume 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 hole? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
