The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
