Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Look Back on His Powerful Time in Office
The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant holders of that position in the nation's history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the individuals 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 earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
