The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. Although many VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
