The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While many vice-presidents were confined to peripheral or symbolic functions, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush resented this portrayal and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always calling him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though 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, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information circulated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (including "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his parent's face that everyone had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting invading Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed nicknames assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees emerge from his hole? It's a effective way to operate, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations followed him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had limited background in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his time at the corporation rose from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
