The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out 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 recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty