The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, 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: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
