The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of that office in US history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head 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. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
