The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although many second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks 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 headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 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 invasion, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
