The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After 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 objective of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
