The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked 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 announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
