The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
