The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as among the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. While many VPs were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture 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 deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
