The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
