The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that office in the nation's history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction 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 educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
