The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in American history. While many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
