The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. While many VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume 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 corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
