The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 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 praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had little experience in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
