The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, 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: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
