The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said 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 invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing 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: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
