The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
