The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that office in US history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion 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 session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
