The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
