The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of that office in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist'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 evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
