The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets 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 told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
