The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch 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 earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
