The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful holders of that office in US history. While numerous VPs were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head 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. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
