The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
