The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume 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 operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
