The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty
