The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. While numerous VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith then and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
