The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of that office in the nation's history. While numerous VPs were limited to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (including "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document 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 establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? This represents a nice way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
