The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that position in American history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command 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 meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
