The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that office in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist'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 sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
