The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. While numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
