The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that position in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow 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 declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author'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 evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
