The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch 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 merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
