The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many VPs were limited to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command 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 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action 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 trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
