The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices 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 post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of 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 White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
