The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 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."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
