The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, 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 surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, 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? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
