The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
