The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force 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: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
