The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that office in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
