The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion 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 attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined 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 announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
