The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating 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: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
