The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that position in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
