The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed 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 announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
