The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured 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 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
