The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had little experience in business but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
