The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume 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 shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
