The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in US history. Although countless second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in official appearances as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney considered the laidback president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet 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 dismissed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had assumed the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to murder his predecessor, 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 portrait of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, consistently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in business but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US contracts valued at billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
