The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating 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: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
