The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that position in American history. Although many VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
