The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 background that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
