The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful occupants of that position in American history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
But even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a document outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees leave his domain? That is a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of 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 VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his previous salary when he was military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
