The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While many vice-presidents were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney held substantial sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-cons that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Disputed Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I believed it at the time and I believe it today."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, repeatedly quoting information documents that were whether weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his domain? This represents a effective way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as leader and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements totaling billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his tenure at the firm rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
