The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although many VPs were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
