The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling 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: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
