The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I had faith then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment 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 accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
