The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that position in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
