The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
