The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
