The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although 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 most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
