The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
