The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that position in US history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, 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 military action, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
