The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, 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 reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his lair? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
