The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that position in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, 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 guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
