The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating 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: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
