The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
