The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance now."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief 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 regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a nice way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
