The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Although many VPs were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
