The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While many VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
