The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the individuals who killed 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."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
