The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, 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 nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to function, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
