The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant holders of that office in the nation's history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was often described as the "true president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow 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 objective of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his father's countenance that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his domain? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
