The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it 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 special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
