The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that position in American history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, 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 diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
