The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both weak or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
