The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing 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 operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, 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 corner that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
