The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most influential occupants of that office in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author'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 nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
