The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. While many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "real president".
Bush objected to that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either thin or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his hole? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
