The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes 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 deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, especially 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 became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
