The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior 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 retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed 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 declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for 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 biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
