The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of 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. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
