The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent 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 reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
