The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
