The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. While many vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Policies
He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view now."
Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had composed a document outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating invading Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely misleading. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his hole? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his time at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
