The deceased US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential incumbents of that position in American history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Period Following the Attacks
Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, causing him to be intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty reports repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had written a memorandum setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his plan of lowering America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was one of the most vehement advocating striking Iraq, consistently quoting agency briefings that were either insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place procedures to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."
Public Persona
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his lair? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as VP. Although he had little experience in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
