The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed 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 stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
