The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for 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 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were both weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker'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 malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
