The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort 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.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, 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 come out of his hole? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
