The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential occupants of that office in American history. While numerous VPs were confined to marginal or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in public settings as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. In spite of these denials, Cheney viewed the laidback president accommodating on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a faction of neo-cons that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the downing of any unidentified aircraft nearing the US Capitol.
Cheney claimed the attacks transformed him, leading him to become intent on retribution. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Disputed Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on misleading information circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I saw, at a minimum," he later wrote "obvious failure, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum outlining situations in which national priorities might be endangered (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on implementing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a plot to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his parent's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether weak or totally misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it was not repeated. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his lair? This represents a advantageous way to function, actually."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in business but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US agreements worth billions.
It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty
