The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Although many VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
