The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
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 dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed 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 intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
