The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that position in US history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, 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 operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
