The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
