The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Although many VPs were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover 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 having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both weak or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the individuals who killed 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 credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
