The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. Although many VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion 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 taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the bastards 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 deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
