The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that position in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head 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 involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
