The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While numerous VPs were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked 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 intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
