The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
