The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas countless VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney wielded substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, leading him to become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a document detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company increased from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
