The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects 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 proper decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined 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 first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally deceptive. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to capture the bastards who killed 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 recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his lair? It's a effective way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 while defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
