The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character 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: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
