The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that office in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
