The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Although many VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels 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 directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
