The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
