The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals 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 deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
