The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most influential holders of that office in American history. While numerous vice-presidents were limited to minor or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked that description and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a whole raft of administrative determinations.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, making him become focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports echoed by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I hold that view today."
Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: at worst, lying, unfitness, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind striking Iraq, consistently citing agency briefings that were both insubstantial or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place initiatives to capture the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the notion that he was a sinister influence controlling Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a nice way to work, actually."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his corporate affiliations pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. While he had little experience in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his previous salary during his time as military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
