The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though 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 lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
