The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
