The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most significant occupants of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the relationship was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in official appearances as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the strikes changed him, making him become intent on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it today."
Yet during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a document outlining scenarios in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," particularly citing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to 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 declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his predecessor's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind attacking Iraq, frequently quoting agency briefings that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the individuals who took the lives of 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 recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a nice way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Controversy over his business interests followed him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty
