The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
