The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
