The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
