The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. While many second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial 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 stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
