The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
