The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command 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 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
