The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, 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 ground design with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
