The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume 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 background that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
