The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, 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 come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships 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 offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
