The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of that position in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork 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 attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, 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 emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
