The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
