The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
