The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
