The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. While numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme 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 ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
