The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired 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 stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
