The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, 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 lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
