The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of that office in American history. While countless VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, 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 corner that operates invisibly come out of his hole? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
