The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that office in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked 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 announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
