The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of that position in American history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
