The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
