The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
