The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential holders of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
