The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior 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 reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, especially 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 became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
