The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time 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 delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed 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 intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling 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: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
