The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. While countless VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed 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 regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
