The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management 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 observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
