The former US VP Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most powerful occupants of that office in US history. While numerous second-in-commands were confined to minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly referred to as the "actual president".
Bush resented that description and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, always referring to him in official appearances as Mr President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the destruction of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.
Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retaliation. Along with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Actions
He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct decision. "It represented the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance presently."
Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a top tier about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, lying, unfitness, and dishonesty."
Broader Context
Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios 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 operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.
Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in a scheme to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's visage that everyone had to tread upon.
Questioning Techniques
But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, repeatedly citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of interrogation method and harsh treatment.
Responding to a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and create initiatives to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney took pleasure in labels assigned to him by opponents such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker'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 sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen leave his domain? That is a nice way to operate, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Controversy over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts worth substantial sums.
It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty
