The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view today."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Although 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 biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his $258,394 while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
