The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
