The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both weak or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker'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 malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
