The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
