The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
