The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless VPs had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "real president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I believe it today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
