The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention 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 taking part 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 unidentified planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
