The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that position in American history. Although numerous VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary 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 participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators 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 praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker'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 shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
