The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted 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 taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
