The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense 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 participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
