The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Although countless VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted 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 participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to capture 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 reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
