The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless VPs were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were both weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
