The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that position in US history. While many VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
