The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had written a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
