The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. While countless VPs were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction 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 educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, 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 floor mural with a image of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
