The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most significant holders of that position in American history. Whereas countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked that description and stated the relationship was more nuanced. He observed that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of conservative hawks that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the downing of any unresponsive planes approaching the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion 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 having involvement.
Disputed Policies
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet even then, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a document detailing situations in which American interests might be threatened (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his domain? It's a nice way to function, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his time at the company grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
