The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the connection was more complex. 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 relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his hole? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
