The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government'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: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
