The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was seen as among the most significant occupants of that position in US history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "actual president".
Bush objected to such a characterisation and said the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Period Following the Attacks
At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. As Bush made his way to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the US Capitol.
Cheney stated the strikes transformed him, making him become determined on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on inaccurate intelligence repeated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I hold that view today."
But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq military action. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had drafted a memo outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (including "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the US should be prepared to act independently when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly citing armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a scheme to murder his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a portrait of his predecessor's face that all visitors had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vociferous behind invading Iraq, frequently referencing agency briefings that were both weak or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush administration politely called as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that found that no valuable data had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish procedures to catch the individuals who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing 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 background that remains unseen leave his hole? That is a effective way to work, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his commercial relationships accompanied him through his period as VP. While he had little experience in business but strong connections in defence, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements valued at substantial sums.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the corporation rose from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth more than $20m|twenty
