The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that position in American history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided 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 opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
