The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? This represents a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
