The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author'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 evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
