The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence 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. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
