The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of that position in US history. While numerous VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing 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 disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to 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 journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
