The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were both insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
