The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy 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 surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
