The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker'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 sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
