The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured 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 path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
