The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, 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 given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
