The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution 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 witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
