The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that office in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
