The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in American history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on executing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US deals worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
