The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
