The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer 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 elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed 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 stated his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? This represents a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
