The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that office in American history. While many VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
