The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence 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. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
