The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
