The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
