The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of that position in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
