The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
