The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information echoed 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."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background 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 oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary while military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
