The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Although countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned 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 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
