The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful incumbents of that office in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were both thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling more than $20m|twenty
