The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas many VPs had to settle for marginal or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a team because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Controversial Policies
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum outlining situations in which American interests might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in labels assigned to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book 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 background that operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
