The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power 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: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
