The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked 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 announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
