The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
