The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
