The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor 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 expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty