The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Although many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and said the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked 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 objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's visage that everyone had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly referencing agency briefings that were either weak or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and create programmes to catch the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? It's a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had little experience in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.
It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his period at the corporation grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth over $20m|twenty
