The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential holders of that office in US history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist'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 background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
