The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards 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 deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
