The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives 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 terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore 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 step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
