The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
