The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite such protestations, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary 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 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney said the strikes transformed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically referencing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind attacking Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? It's a effective way to operate, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
