The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that office in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed 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 regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
