The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking 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 most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
