The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that office in American history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
