The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that position in American history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention 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 attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
