The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that position in US history. Although numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become determined on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information echoed by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance today."
Yet even then, 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 area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired 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 stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind invading Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author'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 evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? It's a nice way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure 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 over $20m|twenty
