The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked 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 diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
