The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
