The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons 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 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both thin or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
