The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While countless VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames 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 manipulating Bush. In the author'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 malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
