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 the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
