The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most influential holders of that office in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading 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 reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
