The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level 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 saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were both weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
