The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that office in American history. Whereas many VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his $258,394 during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
