The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were both thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
