The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
