The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on misleading reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which American interests might be endangered (featuring "access to vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, 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 lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were both thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? That is a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
