The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
