The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
