The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
