The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Although many VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing 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: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
