The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I believed it back then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
