The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become determined on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which American interests might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
