The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Although many VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore 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 walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
