The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Although many VPs were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
