The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that position in American history. While many VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction 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 elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted 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 proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
