The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier 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 saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired 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 stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, 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 was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
