The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence 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 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations 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 part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
