The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
