The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
