The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential holders of that position in US history. While countless VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
