The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government'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 "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
