The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker'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 corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
