The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion 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 attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either thin or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to capture the bastards 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 credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
