The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included 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 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
