The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document 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 asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
