The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed 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 announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
