The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to 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 intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
