The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unresponsive airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were whether thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
