The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful holders of that position in American history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held substantial power during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was often referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. Despite these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney said the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I believe it today."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to operate alone when cooperative measures prove impossible," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that all visitors had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were both insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept 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: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his domain? It's a effective way to function, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
