The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I believe it presently."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
