The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it back then 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 delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
