The late US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered among the most influential occupants of that position in US history. Whereas many VPs were confined to peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney held enormous power during the administration of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a collaboration because it implied that they were equals. Despite these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of administrative determinations.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the assaults transformed him, causing him to be determined on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It was the right thing to do back then. I believed it then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: potentially, lying, ineptitude, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had drafted a memo setting out situations in which American interests might be compromised (featuring "obtaining vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had arrived in the presidency vaguely intent on implementing what his parent had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been sacked by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to walk over.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous advocating attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the report as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and create procedures to capture the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney took pleasure in monikers assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 volume 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 corner that remains unseen leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Business Interests
Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as vice-president. Even though he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the company increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
