The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, 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 nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
