The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for 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 biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
