The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed 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 Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
