The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. While countless VPs were limited to minor or ceremonial functions, Cheney held substantial power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often called as the "real president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.
Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be positioned to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the White House vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his parent's face that each person had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, repeatedly citing agency briefings that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation rose from his $258,394 while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
