The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen come out of his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
