The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were either weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
