The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
