The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered arguably the most powerful occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably addressing him in official appearances as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a group of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it back then and I maintain that stance now."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "access to essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush government politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating 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: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his lair? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the corporation increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
