The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
