The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
