The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
