The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted 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 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
