The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
