The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that office in US history. While numerous VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
