The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
