The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force 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: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
