The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention 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 gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed 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 reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend 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 earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
