The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
