The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling 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: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
