The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
