The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense 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. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
