The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along 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 pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
