The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume 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 shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
