The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed 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 Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
