The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that office in American history. While numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, 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 nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
