The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
