The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of the vice-presidency in US history. Whereas numerous vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in official appearances as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unresponsive planes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Policies
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It proved to be the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance now."
But during that period, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: potentially, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Additional Factors
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "availability of crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency somewhat determined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were both weak or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to capture the individuals 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."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him through his period as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US deals worth substantial sums.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty
