The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused 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 invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to 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 diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
