The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
