The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention 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. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded 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 took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
