The late US VP Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was regarded as one of the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded enormous influence during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "actual president".
Bush resented such a characterisation and stated the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a collaboration because it implied that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
The Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks 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. When of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the shooting down of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the assaults transformed him, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Actions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on misleading intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I had faith then and I hold that view presently."
Yet during that period, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a memo setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (featuring "availability of essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had entered the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind 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 hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's visage that all visitors had to walk over.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly quoting intelligence reports that were both weak or entirely deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his lair? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."
Business Interests
Dispute over his business interests followed him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was granted US agreements totaling substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his time at the company grew from his $258,394 during his time as defence secretary to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at more than $20m|twenty
