The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
