The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker'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 evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
