The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
