The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most powerful holders of that office in American history. Although numerous VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described 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 descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
In charge of a group of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "true dereliction, inaction, and recklessness: potentially, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on carrying out what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired 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 stated his intention of reducing America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation grew from his previous salary while defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a compensation package worth in excess of $20m|twenty
