The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head 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 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty