The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
