The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of that position in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
