The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked 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 outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
