The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following 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 stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
