The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was considered one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it suggested that they were peers. Despite such protestations, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a group of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on misleading reports repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I was convinced then and I believe it now."
But even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior 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 a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of reducing America's engagement in the regional tensions and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
Yet it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind invading Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, 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 lair? It's a advantageous way to operate, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
