The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many VPs were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the bastards 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 praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
