The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards 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 merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
