The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely 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 harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a effective way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
