The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 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 credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
