The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas countless vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and claimed the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it at the time and I believe it presently."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either weak or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force 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 operates invisibly leave his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty