The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
