The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous VPs were confined to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion 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 gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
