The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
