The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most influential occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents were limited to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "actual president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Post-9/11 Era
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, making him become focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the military action of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
But during that period, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memo detailing scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had entered the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and proposed defense operations against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's countenance that all visitors had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, frequently citing agency briefings that were either thin or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence 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 sinister strategist in the corner that nobody ever sees leave his hole? That is a nice way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US contracts totaling multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
