The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating 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 sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
