The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of that position in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
