The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience 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 most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty