The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence 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 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals 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 earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing 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 evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
