The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling 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 malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
