The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held substantial influence during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and claimed the dynamic was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified aircraft heading toward the government building.
Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, causing him to be determined on retaliation. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance presently."
However even at the time, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and corruption."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining circumstances in which US concerns might be endangered (including "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been sacked by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his father's countenance that everyone had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
But it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing agency briefings that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the application of waterboarding and torture.
Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place initiatives to catch the perpetrators 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 earn a lot of praise."
Public Image
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by opponents such as the dark character and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that nobody ever sees emerge from his domain? It's a effective way to function, actually."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, 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 running mate for the executive branch. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at multiple billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
