The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors 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 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
