The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
