The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of that office in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
