The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that office in US history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
