The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless VPs were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but strong connections in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
