The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
