The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied 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 having involvement.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
