The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
