The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
