The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. While many second-in-commands were limited to marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
