The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion 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 attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, 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 leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
