The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
