The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Whereas countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I had faith then and I believe it now."
Yet even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author'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? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
