The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Whereas many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be determined 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 vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to act independently when collective action prove impossible," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
