The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
