The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
