The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head 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. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either thin or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
