The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
