The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. While many VPs were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior 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 retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired 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 plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
