The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many vice-presidents were confined to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney wielded substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow 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 stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment 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 furthermore resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, 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 quoted as saying: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that remains unseen leave his hole? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the corporation rose from his previous salary during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty
