The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of the vice-presidency in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently called as the "actual president".
Bush objected to that description and said the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always addressing him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the easygoing president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes approaching the US Capitol.
Cheney said the attacks changed him, leading him to become determined on retaliation. Along with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein having involvement.
Debated Policies
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the harsh treatment of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it now."
However even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document setting out circumstances in which American interests might be threatened (including "availability of crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when collective action cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush too had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following 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 stated his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's visage that each person had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently citing information documents that were either insubstantial or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate document in 2014 that determined that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to catch the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney reveled in labels given to him by opponents such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. While he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US agreements worth multiple billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars while defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty
