The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
