The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of that office in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
