The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
