The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 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 credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
