The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney held enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
