The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
