The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention 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 taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
