The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of that office in American history. While countless vice-presidents were confined to minor or ceremonial roles, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
The Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any unidentified airplanes approaching the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on inaccurate information echoed by Cheney, was the correct path to take. "It was the correct action to do then. I believed it at the time and I hold that view today."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the position. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, ineptitude, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo outlining scenarios in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's visage that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous behind attacking Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a advantageous way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company increased from his $258,394 when he was defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package totaling over $20m|twenty
