The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction 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. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along 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 armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
