The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as among the most powerful incumbents of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated 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 session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, causing him to be intent on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it presently."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked 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 intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating invading Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney disregarded the report as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to implement measures and establish programmes to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but established relationships in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at more than $20m|twenty
