The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush resented that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, causing him to be determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the harsh treatment of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a document detailing circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the White House generally inclined on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's involvement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or totally misleading. He endorsed what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the employment of interrogation method and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in nicknames assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a advantageous way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him through his period as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals worth billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
