The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
