The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
