The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in public as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated 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 attending a meeting at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I had faith back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling 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 subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document detailing situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either thin or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals valued at multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the corporation increased from his previous salary when he was military head to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
