The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered arguably the most influential occupants of that position in American history. While many VPs were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney exercised huge influence during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush disliked such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in public as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
The Aftermath of 9/11
Leading of a group of neo-cons that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a session at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.
Cheney stated the assaults altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on revenge. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the right thing to do back then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even then, there were opposing views at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he later wrote "clear negligence, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, unfitness, and graft."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had written a document outlining situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be postured to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had assumed the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a plot to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Investigation Approaches
But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting intelligence reports that were whether weak or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no valuable data had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures 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 credit."
Public Persona
Cheney reveled in nicknames assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that remains unseen come out of his domain? This represents a effective way to operate, in fact."
Commercial Ties
Debate over his business interests accompanied him throughout his time as second-in-command. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but established relationships in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.
In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his tenure at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling over $20m|twenty
