The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty