The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired 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 plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
