The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that position in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch 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 deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
