The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. While countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, 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 apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
