The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Whereas numerous VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a high 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 role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were either thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, 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 domain? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
