The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. While numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney held huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, leading him to become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates 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, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were either insubstantial or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as vice-president. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
