The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
But even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
