The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
