The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most significant incumbents of that office in US history. Although many VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a broad range of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks 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 made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I hold that view now."
However during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the White House generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed 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 announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the application of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the company grew from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
