The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were on equal footing. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, like 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, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, 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 based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, lying, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining scenarios in which American interests might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating attacking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either thin or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
