The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of neo-cons 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. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals 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 credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
