The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas many VPs were confined to peripheral or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the connection was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably addressing him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."
But even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his parent's visage that everyone had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both thin or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the conclusions as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his tenure at the firm grew from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
