The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. While numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
