The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that position in American history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."
However during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he wrote later "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: potentially, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document setting out situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were both thin or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to capture the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers given to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
