The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that office in US history. While numerous VPs had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
