The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his lair? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
