The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that office in US history. While countless VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
