The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. While many VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed 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 military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
