The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
