The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential holders of that position in US history. While many VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
