The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent 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 September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards 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 deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating 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: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
