The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
