The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of that position in American history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
