The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
