The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum setting out situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether thin or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume 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 remains unseen leave his domain? It's a nice way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation grew from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
