The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed 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 stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
