The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
