The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While many VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and said the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were both thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
