The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I had faith at the time and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, 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 hole? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling over $20m|twenty
