The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture 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 Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the bastards 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 praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book 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 corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
