The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted 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 meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired 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 announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
