The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
