The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture 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 Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering 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 private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
