The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it today."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, 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 shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
