The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired 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 reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
