The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas numerous VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
