The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most significant holders of that office in American history. Although countless VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
