The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both weak or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
