The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes 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 secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, 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 floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
