The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
