The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Although numerous VPs were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced back then and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty
