The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. While many second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high 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 role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea 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 cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
