The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
