The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired 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 declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
