The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the downing of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both thin or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
