The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, 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 effort, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
