The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker'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 operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
