The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 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 underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either weak or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, 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: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
