The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
