The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
