The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their association as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top 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 agreements worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
