The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together 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 vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his parent, 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 surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
