The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in the nation's history. While many VPs had to settle for minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".
Bush resented this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."
But even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memo detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
