The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that office in American history. While many second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, 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 shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
