The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary 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. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either thin or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
