The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
