The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I hold that view now."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum detailing circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of lowering America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were whether thin or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
