The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It was the correct action to do then. I was convinced then and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys 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 irresponsibility: potentially, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? This represents a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty
