The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful holders of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous VPs were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney held enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become intent on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
However during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether thin or totally inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a nice way to operate, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
