The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that position in American history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion 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 attending a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the attacks transformed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like 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, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even then, there were opposing views at a high 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 witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
