The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
