The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered among the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While many second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of conservative hawks that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I believe it presently."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, incompetence, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been fired by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his parent's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were either thin or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of waterboarding and physical pressure.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they merit a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by detractors such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen emerge from his domain? This represents a effective way to function, in fact."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his business interests followed him throughout his time as VP. While he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his time at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package worth over $20m|twenty
