The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through 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 catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, 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 operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
