The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
