The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker'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 malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
