The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion 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 participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
