The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker'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 corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
