The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 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 credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
