The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
