The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked 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 lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
