The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey 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 father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
