The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that office in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
