The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I believe it today."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? That is a effective way to operate, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the company rose from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
