The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that position in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management 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, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
