The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing 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 background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
