The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 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 credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
