The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
